NEWARK, N.J. — In the end it came down to Anze Kopitar’s hands and stick, and his memory of a shootout goal from six years ago. He went backhand then, and figured Martin Brodeur might remember that he went backhand, which in fact Brodeur did. And so when the Kings centre scissored the puck and carved the 40-year-old Brodeur like a filet, he ended it with a forehand. And that was the difference in Game 1.

But that probably won’t have much effect on Game 2, or the rest of the Stanley Cup final, and not just because the Devils are unlikely to surrender another breakaway in overtime to one of the two most dangerous men in the building. On the day after the Los Angeles Kings took a 1-0 series lead on the New Jersey Devils, the two teams agreed on a few things: Nobody played their best game, both teams experienced nerves, and the ice was about two hours shy of a puddle. In other words, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

“We’ve got to bring the game we know we can bring,” said Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, who stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced. “We didn’t bring it last night, and I don’t think they brought theirs, either.”

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No, but only one of them has to deal with the most overwhelming puzzle of the NHL playoffs: the Los Angeles Kings, the unexpected Goliath. They are hard enough to deal with if you don’t mess up your own damned game.

“I think nerves, jitters, ice,” Devils centre Ryan Carter said. “I don’t know. You can point to a couple different areas. I think at times we were careless with the puck a little bit and got away from what got us where we’re at, turning it over and not making the plays that we’re used to making. That created a little momentum for them, some room. You can’t give that up this time of year.”

“I think when I look back at our playoff trail, you know, one of the areas that’s cropped up in every round is we’ve been a little tentative in the first game, you know, kind of felt our way, and then jumped in with both feet in Game 2,” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. “I think that’s hopefully what we’ll do here again.”

That is indeed the hope for New Jersey, which lost Game 1 in its previous two series. They took consolation in that, and in the fact that they could have won this one, if not for David Clarkson sending a shot about two feet clear of an open net in the first period, and if not for Parise and Mark Fayne both getting just tiny pieces of pucks on what were dinner-plate-sized opportunities in the third — with the humidity and heat outside and in the building, the puck bounced like a quarter in the street all night — then New Jersey could have stolen Game 1.

“You know, the word is ‘execution’ for me,” DeBoer said. “Our execution was poor in a lot of areas.”

But while the Devils solved the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers in the rounds preceding this one, this is not the same stage. The Kings have won Game 1 in four consecutive series, and won Games 2 and 3 in the previous three while they were at it.

And the Kings had complaints about how they played, too. They talked about how the building was a sweatbox; that in the humidity of New Jersey, the air temperature actually rose as they walked from the dressing room to the ice. They talked about how some guys, top-end guys according to Kings coach Darryl Sutter, were sluggish. In all, they were trying to shake the rust of a week off, after travelling east, while sweating like they were digging ditches in the sun.

And yet they won, again, and are now 13-2 in the playoffs, and 9-0 on the road. The Devils have not seen anything like this sort of implacable machine. Not one Los Angeles player betrays overconfidence. Not one of them doesn’t say they have to get better. And not one of them can quite explain how a team that finished eighth in the Western Conference just keeps turning quality opponents into powder.

“I mean, surprise?” Kopitar said. “I don’t know if anybody thought we could go 9-0 on the road. But it is what it is. You have to approach it just like a game, you know, a home game or a road game. You have to be focused, you have to have a strong start, you have to play every shift at a time.”

“It’s all about peaking at the right time, getting hot at the right time, and I think it happens a lot in sports,” Kings defenceman Matt Greene said.

So when Game 2 rolls around, someone’s pattern will be broken, and someone’s best will be good enough. But the New Jersey Devils know what they’re facing, now, and know what happens if they fail. It’s not a must-win until you have to win it to stay alive, but the Devils are approaching the next best thing.

“This team hasn’t lost on the road all playoff year,” said Brodeur, who has been through so many of these rodeos. “They feel good about themselves, and they’re finding ways to win. We have to get a win and that’s going to be a tough loss for them if we’re able to get them, because they haven’t lost yet on the road. How are they going to react to that? We’ve got to put doubt in their minds as quick as possible.”

It’s a lesson Carroll's mother taught him early in life: ‘When you go out the house, you gotta make sure you represent your family looking good'

No Canada: How we lost our game

For the first time since 1970, there will be no Canadian teams in the NHL playoffs this year. In a six-part series, Postmedia News looks into the reasons for Canadian teams’ on-ice woes, from the Canadian dollar to players’ aversion to the media fishbowl.

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